Sometimes I’m excited to post here because I have a great recipe to write about. Sometimes I’m excited because I have a great character to introduce you to. On the best days, like today, I have both. Technically, my friend Victoria Granof is a food stylist — someone who makes the meatballs or the soup look appetizing for the camera — but… Read more »
This week I did an “instagram takeover” for @LalaLunchbox — a really cool meal-planning app for kids and parents that I highly advise checking out — and had a few revelations about the process, none of which, amazingly, involve the state of my mental health. 1) Phoebe, my 13-year-old, is content to have a turkey and cheddar sandwich with mustard… Read more »
I know. I’m prone to saying that — “my new favorite” — but here’s the thing, I mean it every time! Truth be told, it’s easy to abuse the phrase when we’re talking chicken, because I, like the rest of America, am always grateful for a simple new way to get my family’s favorite protein on the table fast. This… Read more »
I know we’re all in end-of-summer mode, but for a minute I need to take you back to an early June day, specifically Father’s Day, which up here in the Northeast was a stunner of a Sunday. Clear skies, low 70s, light breeze. Andy was out running errands when the girls and I took stock of the gift loot —… Read more »
I am so pleased to hand over the mic to Katie Workman today. You might say the two of us are sisters in dinner — we met in 2013 at The Family Dinner Conference (yes, it exists), she’s blogged for years, and has two books out on the subject, the latest of which might be my favorite. It’s called Dinner:… Read more »
. I am so sick of cooking. At least I am as I write this, four days into a New York-style heat wave, and three weeks into a project that has me testing recipes and — get this — turning on the oven. You know that’s essentially against the law in my house during the months of July until August,… Read more »
As our kids head into their last week of school, teacher thank-you notes in tow, it got us thinking: What about our teachers in the kitchen? What about all the little voices that instruct us as we whip our cream, brown our chops… and overcook our dry-aged ribeyes? I’m not only talking about the Marcellas and the Julias and the Bittmans,… Read more »
Every Friday, like clockwork, the text comes from the mom or dad of one of my 11-year-old’s friends. “The girls are asking for a sleepover. OK by me if OK by you!?” I got this exact message from my friend Annie late Friday afternoon while Phoebe, Andy, and I were sitting on the grassy berm beside the school track where… Read more »
There was a point a month or two ago when I heard or read the word “Einkorn“ about five times in the course of 24 hours. Never heard of it? Neither had I! This, in spite of the fact that the grain is 12,000 years old (shame on us) and, according to The New York Times “pleasingly chewy,” “nutty in flavor,” and suddenly… Read more »
Back in the day – that is, before we had kids – we took our vacation eats very seriously. We’d start booking tables within minutes of reserving our flights. We’d procure a copy of a magical thing called “The Zagat Guide,” and we’d begin plotting our sight-seeing itinerary around the places that served the most authentic migas/coffee/minestrone/cassoulet/lobster rolls/etc. From a… Read more »
When you think of Sunday Dinners in the winter, what do you think of? A big pot of your grandmother’s meatballs? A hunk of meat braising all day in a Dutch Oven? Buttery mashed potatoes? Creamy polentas? Paellas? Lasagnas? And all things warm and comfort-y? Me, too. It’s most of the reason I can get through single-digit-degree February. But now… Read more »
Of all the things that taste better the next day — Grandma Jody’s chicken, pasta with Bolognese — I think maybe Shepherd’s Pie is right up there on my list. At least part of the reason for this is because some of my fondest childhood memories involve standing in front of my best friend’s fridge, eating forkfuls of the pie’s spice-spiked… Read more »
Do you guys remember when Martha Stewart published the spin-off, Kids? It launched just as I became a mother, and was the magazine I would pick up during breastfeeding, and think “Some day Phoebe and I will fashion water bottles into adorable little piggy banks!” and “Someday I will have a ‘Backwards Party’ for Abby and serve a ‘Spaghetti and Meatballs’… Read more »
There’s a reason why at-home birthday parties are going the way of the white rhinoceros: They are stressful! And why bother when the local laser tag place does it all for almost the same price? Well, 1) because I find, no matter how chaotic it is, your kids (and you) will get a special kind of high from doing it… Read more »
We have no one to blame but ourselves, but Tuesday nights are hell. I’ll spare you the numbing logistical details, but all that’s relevant here is that a few times a month, by the time I pull into the driveway with the girls in the backseat, it’s almost 8:30 at night. We stagger through the door, shedding soccer bags, shin… Read more »
Twelve years into this whole parenting thing, I know a few things for sure: The baby will need your attention at the exact moment the garlic in the pan goes from golden to blackened; bribery is a necessary evil; and—perhaps most relevant for the phase I’m in right now—mashed potatoes are crucial for surviving the middle-school years. I’m not talking… Read more »
There’s still a week left to go before school starts, but already the back-t0-the-grind jitters are creeping into our last few vacations days at the beach. The girls’ class schedules arrived yesterday by email — this is when I long for the days of snail mail notification — and now, when I close my eyes, all I seem to see… Read more »
You know when you go to someone’s house for dinner and you walk out of the house three hours later thinking, We might have some room for improvement, parenting-wise? That’s what happened last summer when we went to visit our friends, Will and Alaina, and their excellent kids, Eli and Bee. Will is a freshly-retired 20 year veteran of the… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
